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Linked through sister cities, Rotarians save newborns in Brazil
By Vanessa Glavinskas; Photographs by Robert Gill
A mother is in labor, and she’s frightened. Her baby isn’t due for three months. The closest hospital is 30 miles away, and although she makes it there in time, the baby is born weighing barely 2 pounds.
And there’s another problem.
The hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit has only seven incubators, and all are in use, so the baby must be transferred to another hospital to receive the critical care he needs. If he survives the transfer, his parents will need to find a way to make trips to that hospital for months.
Many new mothers were facing similar situations at Dr. Leopoldo Bevilacqua Regional Hospital, a state-run facility in Brazil’s Ribeira Valley. Lack of equipment meant some of the hospital’s most vulnerable newborns had to be transferred, which was a factor in São Paulo state’s high infant mortality rate.
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The Rotary Club of Registro-Ouro and the Rotary Club of Registro partnered on a Rotary Foundation global grant with two clubs in Nakatsugawa, Japan.
Through the partnership, Brazilian Rotarians raised $172,500. They funded equipment including five incubators for the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), which nearly doubled the hospital’s capacity to care for fragile newborns. In 2013, 129 babies were admitted to the NICU; since the completion of the project, the hospital has been able to care for about 220 babies per year.
By adding five incubators to the NICU, the hospital nearly doubled the number of babies its nurses and doctors can care for.
Other equipment provided through the grant included five ventilators, a bilirubin meter, three heated cribs, five vital-sign monitors, and a super LED microprocessed phototherapy unit to treat babies with jaundice. The grant also funded the cost of publicity to inform residents about prenatal care workshops conducted by area health workers. The publicity campaign aimed to reach mothers in remote areas who may not know what services are available to them or about the importance of prenatal care and breast-feeding.
Make-Ups: In addition to make-up opportunities at Rotary Sunrise, you can make up absences at another club in Grand Cayman. The meeting times and places for the other clubs are as follows:
Rotaract Blue:
Wednesdays 6 pm at Royal Palms Beach Club Restaurant
Rotaract Club of Grand Cayman:
Thursdays 7 a.m. at The Greenhouse, 72 North Church St.
(Next to Digicel Office, near waterfront)
Rotary Club of Grand Cayman
Thursdays 12:30pm, The Westin Ballroom
Rotary Club Cayman Central
Tuesdays 7:30pm, George Town Yacht Club Restaurant
Rotary E-Club of the Caribbean 7020: Online meetings anytime. Visit the new e-club platform at
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